[QUOTE=il_wi_fishing;517887]In my neck of the woods the populations are ever on the increase. We have a decent size pack that will come into our months.
My neighbor opened up his garage this summer to screaming just to find a yote strolling down the street with a cat in its mouth.

Lots of people don't realise Cats are Born Killers,I once watched a Neighbours Cat Kill a couple of Native Birds just for The Fun of it then I shot it,people even put Bells on them to try to prevent this happenning which is useless.

We need some Coyotes over here as we have Feral Cats everywhere as we were driving on a section of Road in Central Queensland which is a well known Kangaroo area where there was a Road Kill about every 500 yards,each one had at least one Feral Cat Feeding on it.
Brian

I saw an article in Nat Geo about the horrific damage the cats are doing there in Australia. They had a guy who is trying to save a bunch of small species from extinction. It had a photo of the guy wearing a catskin cap, Daniel Boone style. It had a little cat face right on his forehead. It was captioned "I love cats. Trouble is, I can never eat a whole one."

I wasn't kidding, Cats should never be outside unless they are part of a casserole.

Over The years I've shot,Run over Hundreds of Cats mostly in The Wild as I've said they are everywhere & a Huge Problem,however I've never been Hungry enough to Eat one,even though I've Skinned them to Tie Flies with.
I'd rather eat Beef,Sheep,Fish,Crayfish,Duck,Rabbit,Goat,Wild Pig or Goat instead as there is no shortage of any of them as they are always available in a variety of locations.
If we are in The Outback we usually take an Esky of Beer & visit one of our other Mate's Properties,his wife feeds us as they are pretty isolated & are glad to see us.
Brian

I can't remember where I read the story, or maybe I heard it on the radio, it was about a pack of coyotes that live in Loop in Chicago. The Loop is dead center of downtown business district, a million + people a day down there. Amazing critters.

I know that many folks take a dim, and often misinformed view of fur trapping. Many years ago, the folks in the Los Angelos area of California, because of the efforts of animal rights folks, voted for & got a referendum, prohibiting the use of traps in that area. The law, by the way it was written, also kept the state Natural Resources Dept from using the traps to control wildlife in that area.

After coyotes became such a problem, that they were taking pets & endangering children, the locals pleaded with the state to do something about the coyotes. They were told they could not, because the law had taken that option away.

Apparently, it was not too long before the good folks decided they wanted the law rescinded.

My neighbor opened up his garage this summer to screaming just to find a yote strolling down the street with a cat in its mouth.

One more reason to leave the Coyotes alone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liphookedau

I've never been Hungry enough to Eat one,even though I've Skinned them to Tie Flies with.
Brian

Have you ever had any tanned? If so, what did they charge you? I asked a while back about what it would take to get a catskin cap made and was told I need two matching cats. The guy never even blinked an eye.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigjim5589

because of the efforts of animal rights folks, voted for & got a referendum, prohibiting the use of traps .....After coyotes became such a problem, that they were taking pets & endangering children,

It would be interesting to know how many of the "animal rights folks" had Cats running around loose. And isn't it funny how those rights take a back seat once it effects them personally.

I know that many folks take a dim, and often misinformed view of fur trapping. Many years ago, the folks in the Los Angelos area of California, because of the efforts of animal rights folks, voted for & got a referendum, prohibiting the use of traps in that area. The law, by the way it was written, also kept the state Natural Resources Dept from using the traps to control wildlife in that area.

After coyotes became such a problem, that they were taking pets & endangering children, the locals pleaded with the state to do something about the coyotes. They were told they could not, because the law had taken that option away.

Apparently, it was not too long before the good folks decided they wanted the law rescinded.

Not surprising, a voter referendum like that coming from a metro area, let alone LA. Believe it or not, there is group (based in Missoula of course) that is trying to get trapping outlawed on public land, all public land in Montana. Granted there have been dogs caught in foot-hold snares on public lands where lots and lots of people go for hikes. A few lazy and stupid trappers that set within a couple hundred yards of trailheads and along the river bottoms where so many people take their dogs fishing are ruining trapping for the guys that know what they are doing and are responsible. It's a sticky situation. I feel for both groups - well, not the trapping banners, but the folks who want to go for a walk and end up with a nightmare situation with their dog in a snare. Then they over react -- ban it! Rather than petitioning the FWP to re-write the regulations to make larger no-trapping perimeters around trail-heads, well used hiking trials and fishing access.

Dean, I trapped for over 20 years, and there are ways to keep most pets out of traps. Unfortunately, pet owners do not always obey the laws either. Here in MD, there are leash laws that prohibit pets from running free. In more open states, I can understand a dog going unleashed. However, you're correct that there is usually an overreaction by those who do not trap, and little effort by many trappers to keep traps out of areas frequented by pets. Again, the public, who is for the most part, uninformed about traps & trapping, hear only one side of the issue, and often respond out of emotions for a killed or injured pet.

I had an incident once, and a dog was killed in one of my body grip traps. I was trapping on a friends property who was having problems with Raccoons getting into his attic. I was also trapping Muskrats in the marshes around his property, and on the property of one of his neighbors. This was all water trapping, no land sets at all. One of my friends neighbors had a dog, a German Shepard that roamed around. That neighbor was told to please keep his dog tied up, that I was trapping on this other property, and did want to have a problem with the dog. All of these properties are located on a river, and the dogs tracks were very evident along the shorelines. The dog owner insisted that the dog never left his property.

The river is tidal, and the dog was going into areas after the tide was down, and was stealing Muskrats caught in my traps, along with the traps. Again, the dog owner was asked to please keep the dog on their property. That went un-heeded. One day, everything froze over and that dog ventured into a marsh area where I had a body grip trap set for Raccoons. This was an area of deep mud normally, and there was not bait or scents used with the trap, or was set in a trail the Raccoons were traveling to get to the house. The trap was also set about 200 yards from the neighbors property.

The dog for whatever reason, ended up in that trap, and the owner found the dog on the ice. He took my trap too. His response was not good, making threats to call law enforcement. He had young girl's and insisted his kids could have been caught in that trap. All of this after he was told I was there & what I was doing, and he needed to restrain his dog.

It's a sad and no win situation, even though the trap was set legally. I did not confront the man about taking my trap, figured it was best to let it go. Afterwards, I told the story to a DNR officer I knew, his response, he would have shot the dog, there are leash laws and the dog owner was in violation of those laws.

Have you ever had any tanned? If so, what did they charge you? I asked a while back about what it would take to get a catskin cap made and was told I need two matching cats. The guy never even blinked an eye.